and then you have the national harbor, e street cinema, nova community college, wto want news, wmata, nationals baseball, dc restaurant week, washington sports club and round it out with something for the holiday shopping season number euna leesburg you lets. one thing i want top show you real quick, what goes up must come down and google has a list of the fastest falling sites and take a look at how many politicians are on this site. you have got john mccain, barack obama, sarah palin. they were all on that fastest- rising list lastier and now on the fastest falling list. my guess would be it is not an election year. go figure. back to you. >> >> that means we have that to look forward to in 2010. >>> right now we look forward to howard's forecast. >> ironman and wii fit were on the list. a couple of my favorites there. >> and ron paul. >> what are you going to do. >> let's talk about the chill womaning in. the winds are blowing from the west northwest and the arctic air will cover the country and that will spill over the mountains toward us toward tonight and tomorrow. today 43 or s

making sure that wmata knows this is important. that they have to keep them safe. and as a result, there could be people who are late for work today. mike? >> thank you, surae. oh, my goodness. you can hear the horns beeping in the background. >>> the traffic lights are back to normal in montgomery county this morning. we first brought you this as breaking news yesterday. more than 200 lights were out of sync yesterday and traffic along rockville pike was backed up for miles. it was miserable. officials think the problem was caused by a power surge from a lightning strike. >> today, president obama heads to fort drum in new york. >> he'll meet with soldiers and talk more about his plan to pull troops out of afghanistan. >> the president wants to bring 10,000 troops home by the end of this year and a total of 33,000 home by next summer. >> after this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace. afghan security forces move into the lead. our mission will change from combat to support. by 2014, this process of transition will be complete.

wmata has informed us that the dog park will be closed for good if smoking inside the park is not immediately stopped and all cigarette butts are not picked up and properly disposed of. >> i'm sure it is an issue for the person who has to pick it up. but i think it would be a shame if they shut it down. >> if that's their stance, i fully support them actually. >> 9news now called metro about this incident and the transit agency says it doesn't know anything about the signs but it will look into where they came from and whether the threats hold any merit. >>> some spellbinding moments at the final moments of the scripps national spelling bee. similar cymotrichous is c-y-m-o- t-r- c-y-m-o-t-r-i-c-h-o-u-s. [ applause ] >> that's the national spelling bee champion! sukanya roy won the prize. by the way, the word cymotrichous means having wavy hair, ok? but this little girl, this 14- year-old girl is from pennsylvania. she competed in the spelling bee three times. she says that she read the dictionary once or twice in order to prepare and sometimes she guesses at some of the words. and they kind o

wmata has jobs such as managing director of budget. police officer and data clerk. if you want to work in the district and you have computer skills, you could be in luck. here are the professions with the greatest number of job openings listed on career builder. there are 711 positions listed on i. t. management, 613. engineering, 352 jobs. sales, 321 and in fifth place, healthcare, 249 jobs. we're not done with our mission to get you hired and in the next half hour, we're taking a look at who is hiring in northern virginia. >> i feel really positive all of a sudden. >> perception is a lot of turning this economy around. >> thank you, jess. >>> northern virginia next half hour. >>> much of the floodwaters in states to our north is headed toward the chesapeake bay. that story is coming up. >> plus, police have released the name in connection with a series of slashings of women at fairfax county shopping centers. hey guys, what can i get for you? i would like a decaf 360 calories please and a piece of the 440 calories. and for you? i'll have a triple iced 410 calories

i repeat my call on wmata to exercise appropriate judgment and remove this offensive ad. dozens of you are already talking about this one on the wusa9 facebook page. i'll have some of your comments later in mcginty's mailbag. if you haven't weighed in, join the conversation on facebook or e-mail me, mcginty as hemail back at wusa9.com. >>> tonight -- mcginty's mailbag at wusa9.com. >>> topper's spring-like forecast is coming up. >>> but first the rains could not cool down marylanders heated over new tax proposals, the message to their governor up next. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ >>> back on 9news now a rally out in the rain, a group of realtors and homeowners braving the wet weather in annapolis to urge lawmakers to jean a budget proposal from governor martin -- to reject a budget proposal from governor mar

metro is standing firm saying the design and construction flaws would place a maintenance burden on wmata. >>> a riders advisory council meeting was held last night. >> during the meeting a number of riders voiced their displeasure with metro. delia goncalves is live with more. what do they want fixed, delia? >> reporter: there's a laundry list of things they need fixed and want fixed. we took to twitter and asked you what bugs you most about metro. we got a whole lot of responses. we had to kind of condense it all to about a list of 0 and took it direct -- of 10 and took it directly to metro spokesperson dan stessel. among the top three complaints, accountability, reliability, and those malfunctioning doors. those we're told are all a product of our old and neglected system. metro now investing $5.5 billion to improve the system and replace some 40-year-old cars. and that brings us to our next top complaint: weekend delays and, quote, track work. >> track work is really not the right word. it's kind of an understatement. what we're doing on weekends here is rebuilding this system. it's a

councilwoman muriel bowser is also a wmata board member. >> we know that a lot of hard working men and women are putting their lives on the line every day to make the system safe and i'm just very sorry to have learned about this incident, but we'll work with my colleagues on the board and all the staff at metro who i know are heartbroken as well to get to the bottom of this. >> reporter: the tunnel explosion and fire happened near the union station platform. a portion of the red line had already been shut down this weekend for track work. three shuttle buses helped passengers get around the district. the tragic accident happened on the red line, the busiest and oldest in the entire transit system and some would argue the most troublesome. the crew was working as part of the transit's $5 billion capital improvement program. in 2010 two workers were killed by a piece of rail equipment near the rockville metro stop. this past may fire erupted underneath a railcar at the silver spring metro station. metro has seen devil derailments on the red line including this -- derailments on the red

wmata says clear. okay. now let's listen to that again. >> this is. [ inaudible ] >> then metro tweeted me saying russ, as you know, you did not ask us to comment on that announcement specifically. that is not what we told you and we committed to get back with you with additional info, so i tweeted back saying as i told you i wrote every line in your system. i have lots more audio. i'll be playing them. that was one of the better ones. my twitter page went wild with comments from you expressing the same types of problems. then i may have made things worse by posting on instagram my impression of those speakers and that metro spokesman. >> metro, blah blah blah blah, metro, single tracking, this is not a problem blah blah blah blah. >> rein is in a little bit. >> that's exactly what the bosses and i have decided that we should have in retrospect. we question whether my comic attempt at social media was out of line. we want you to know what you think is what's important and what do you do with an entity people

interview about the hard to understand train announcements and an increasing drum beat from you to hold wmata accountable on that. you can tweet me or like me on facebook, #metrointervention. i'll get back to you. >>> this sunday's super bowl will be the first to be played in a cold weather city. coming up how the cold weather can affect an athlete's health and performance. >> but first top promises we'll hit 50 degrees sometime this weekend. he's got his forecast coming up next. >>> helping you plan your day, wusa9 first alert weather. >> you know what? i just want to thank you for warming things up. it's jan's birthday. >> get out of town! >> this was a great gift. it's the gift that's giving back for the rest of the week. >> you have big plans tonight? >> i'll be working. >> she'll be working. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. >> birthday girl and it's warmer. >> 51. can't argue with that. >> this weekend could not come at a better time for me. >> in the scheme of things pretty nice. don't get used to it. remember we showed you really cool video yesterday of folks sliding around? check this

. >>> remember this metro intervention monday, riders talking to a cardboard cutout because wmata refused to show up to do an interview? now the wusa9 metro investigation that sparked the social media uproar continues. >> investigative reporter russ ptacek tests metrorail's speaker system. metro didn't like what russ found, but from the avalanche of tweets and e-mails it seems he might have hit a nerve with some riders. >> reporter: we set out with what seemed to be a simple premise, that is, a lot of the time metro speakers are hard, if not impossible, to understand. that's not what sparked the social media backlash. it was metro dismissing the scope of the problem and refusing to even do an interview about their speakers saying initially they were only aware of four speaker failures out of 1,000 trains a month. when we pushed and we pushed hard, they acknowledged their own test shows some of their announcements are hard to understand but claim their data shows 85% of metrorail announcements can be understood. you be the judge. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: you're listening to announcements

. >> reporter: i've e-mailed wmata, telephoned them, tweeted questions, so far no answers. instead they sent out the same statement they sent out for our last speaker question saying the in consistencies will be addressed by the 7000 series cars that don't start coming online for a couple years and won't be fully in place until 2020 and beyond. i'm investigative reporter russ ptacek, wusa9. >> maybe we should talk to russ because he's not letting it go. whether it's metro announcements or probable on the roads, we'd love to hear -- problems on the roads, we'd love to hear your commuter pet peeves. go to tellwusa9.com and we'll try to get you some answers. >>> this is a yellow alert day, wusa9 first alert weather. >> let's start with a live look outside, our live michael and son weather cam, temperature 32, dew point mid-teens, a pretty dry air mass, winds out of the south at 11. here's the radar, our first batch of snow from hagerstown down towards charlottesville moving pretty much west to east, will move through the metro area downtown and across 95 the next two hours. th

. >> it was our determination that it is not yet ready for wmata to take over operation or readiness and one of the items that we found deficient was the train control system. >> reporter: project director pat nowakowski said the issues are not safety related but about reliance and predictability. they include performance issues with the automatic train control system, elevator and escalator problems, water leaks in buildings and track gauge problems. drain fill supervisor john foust says he's disappointed. >> reporter: in reston, peggy fox. >> interestingly enough that delay didn't trigger fines for the contractor. he can apparently take as much time to correct the problems as he needs. the silver line is finally determined to be complete it will be turned over to metro which will then conduct 90 days of testing. >>> in other news tonight one of the ghostbusters has died. >> harold ramis who co-wrote that movie died at his home in chicago. he was battling an autoimmune disease for several years. ramis is known for his part in several popular comedies, writing and directing classics

he says safety is wmata's no. 1 priority. here's the issue. the person who witnessed that said he never heard how that was resolved. does that sit well with you? >> no, it doesn't. i think our customer service office usually tries to get back to the complainant and i would have to go back to the records with them to see if that takes place. >> reporter: he says he never heard back. will you check on that? >> i can do that. >> reporter: way matt a issued a statement saying their check -- wmata issued a statement saying their check showed it was responded to. >> i responded a few times asking for more information to speak to somebody. >> reporter: 0 matt asd the problem at bennett's intersection -- wmata said the probable at bennett's intersection was a green left turn arrow that was too short. this statement from wmata shows they made that request june 4th last year. we timed the same green arrow four days ago lasting seven seconds. >> we're waiting for the results of that request. >> they're breaking the law and they're endangering people. at

. >> i just want to thank you so much for the opportunity to have served wmata. it has been truly a pleasure and honor and to lead the men and women of this fine, fine organization, all of whom really want to do a great job. thank you again. [ applause ] >> check it out. sarles gets a standing o at today's board meeting. sarles was appointed as gm in 2011 after serving several months as interim chief. the board chair says the agency will be searching nationwide for a new manager. we'll have more on metro and show you why the days of the herky-jerky train ride are numbered. >>> calls tonight for the leader of perhaps an even more crucial agency calling it quits to step down. >> ron kessler says the director of the secret service should resign after a fence jumper made it through the front door of the white house and bruce leshan reports members of congress want to know if there is something seriously broken at the agency that protects the president. >> reporter: the president in new york while the controversy continues to rage in washington over the troubled iraq

. >> wmata's unprecedented response is shutting down the black one blue line -- blue line one day. the national park service issued a permit for up to 800,000 people. >> hundreds of thousands of people and they want to go this way, this way, that way or this way to get home and we're providing direct rail service for them without having to change trains. >> wmata says by closing the blue line they can move more people faster onto the national mall by putting more trains on the yellow line. stick with me here. the blue line, some of it is duplicated by the silver and orange lines and in virginia the yellow line. for instance, on veterans day you need to go from pentagon city to l'enfant plaza. on the blue line it takes 17 minutes around. for the yellow five minutes. still some are concerned about the inconvenience and beyond. >> we are fearful that this might set a cage russ precedent as a go -- a dangerous precedent as a go to solution for handling the large crowds. >> reporter: nobody knows how many will show up at the mall but needed to make sure next day service was not interrup

. >>> passengers are expected to file a lawsuit against wmata who suffered injuries and there's only speculation how smoke spiraled out of control and dozens were sent to hospitals. one person was killed. the ntsb will brief congress on its investigation next week and a more detailed report will come in 30 days. a 2010 draft of metro's protocol for smoke in the tunnels calls for operators to back up to the nearest station, if they can, and shut off the ventilation and drive through the smoke if they have to. the train's operator says he could not full forward until another train cleared the l'enfant station. tonight we spoke with the family of carroll glover, the alexandria woman who died when the metro car she was in filled with smoke. >> mola lenghi, how is the family holding up? >> obviously a devastating time from the family, but they're holding up surprisingly well as they wait to learn exactly what happened. tracy inman thought the world of his big sister. >> carol was an amazing person, a great sister, a great role model for me and my entire family. she was sweet. she was gene

. >> reporter: the brothers are suing wmata for $50 million saying it was their negligence that caused their mom, 61-year- old carol glover's death after smoke filled a metro train january 12th. the lawsuit alleges she fought ever more agonizingly to breathe as the smoke gradually sapped the life from her body. among the alleged wmata fails, the ventilation system, radio compatibility, failure to shut down power quickly and a less than timely 45 minute evacuation. >> we want to seek justice not only for our family, but for this area and for everybody who rides the metro system. for me personally and i can say the same for my brother, though we're devastated, we're not bitter. we just want to do what's right. >> everything that could go wrong on january 12th went wrong and it cost my two clients to my left their mother. it cost these grandchildren their grandmother and this was a completely preventible incident. >> i reached out to metro. they have no comment on the lawsuit. the investigation into what happened is still ongoing and it's expected that this legal fight will take months, m

among the wmata fails, the ventilation system, radio ibility, failure to shut down power quickly and a less than timely 45 minute evacuation. >> we want to seek justice not only for our family, but for this area and for everybody who rides the metro system. for me personally and i can say for my brother though we're devastated, we're do what's right. >> metro can't comment about on pending litigation. the full ntsb investigation into what happened is still not complete. this legal fight could take months, maybe even years. >>> what happened when prosecutors in george zimmerman's latest case involving violence and women went before the judge today? [ screaming ] >> someone heard this woman's frantic plea for help 900 miles away. up next how a call fr >>> after two days of threats and deadlines the fate of two men held by isis remains uncertain. >> there was going to be a swap for a prisoner by sundown yesterday. government officials say they've never heard from the group and for the first time the wife of the journalist being held has made a public plea to isis to free already husband

aboard the smoke filled metro train suing 0 matt arks the dollar amount and their heartbreak -- suing wmata, the dollar amount and their heartbreak coming up. >> and in the middle of patriots nation some fans have been told there's a very important legal reason they might not be able to watch the entire game. >> good evening. i'm jan jeffcoat. >> i'm derek mcginty. >>> some very gusty winds are causing more problems than just bad hair days tonight. 40-mile an hour winds whipping around the tourists at the monument and even brought down a few tree branches. virginia power says a tree branch falling on power lines in springfield left about 500 people in the dark. they expect to get the lights back on there soon. >> they'll need heat because the strong winds will make the air outside feel like it's below 0 tonight. >>> chief meteorologist topper shutt is tracking where it's going to be. >> we just saw some folks jogging around the mall. tomorrow morning will be below 0. our wind advisory continues for the entire area till midnight. winds could gust miles per hour. 38 mile-per-hour wind gust at

. >> reporter: the brothers are suing wmata for $50 million saying it was their negligence that caused their mom, 61-year- old carol glover's death after smoke filled a metro train january 12th. the lawsuit alleges she fought ever more agonizingly to breathe as the smoke gradually sapped the life from her body. among the alleged wmata fails, the ventilation system, radio compatibility, failure to shut down power quickly and a less than timely 45 minute evacuation. >> we want to seek justice not only for our family, but for this area. >> reporter: metro says they have no comment on the lawsuit, that ntsb investigation is still ongoing. this legal fight is expected to take months, probably years. in the newsroom debra alfarone, wusa9. >>> a 16-year-old girl missing from christiansburg, virginia, has been found safe in little rock, arkansas. aysia lewis disappeared after leaving her high school monday afternoon. police determined she left with a 33-year-old man named don qwesenberry who drove from his home in illinois to join her. >> as a father, the last three days my heart's went out to

the wmata board voted today to forego fare increases and cuts in service. metro was hoping the moves would add $46 million to their bottom line. the proposed changes outraged commuters and metro says it listened. >>> apple's leader is coming to d.c., who will be able to hear that speech on the national mall after the break. >> and kentucky fried chicken making headlines for its coffee today, the new way it's serving >>> supporters of so-called net neutrality are praising the ruling today by the fcc. new rules will be put on providers to treat them more like public utilities. the new rules are aimed at keeping internet service providers from blocking or slowing down web traffic preference to other traffic and they will not be allowed to charge content providers such as netflix extra fees for special treatment. >>> george washington university netted a major name to deliver the commencement speech this may. apple ceo tim cook will be the featured speaker. he's going to receive an honorary doctorate for public service, also. gw students nominated him to speech

wmata has hired a pr firm to tune up their image a bit. >> reporter: what is wmata's image? we asked the passengers. riders' relationship with metro can be a complicated. >> i think the image is okay. it could be better. >> i think metro's image needs a little help. riders tend to look example rated. >> i think -- exasperated. >> i think they have a good image compared to other mass transit organizations in other cities. >> reporter: metro hired a public relations firm they say will be "working to support internal departments on communications planning including preparation for ntsb public hearings." >> please remain calm. please do not open the doors. >> reporter: stemming from january's fatal smoke incident. safety doesn't seem to be a concern for everyone like this chicago native. >> i feel safer riding the metro here than in chicago. >> reporter: in term of crime or how the train handles? >> i think how the train handles the situations. i think it's really cool they have the security desk. >> reporter: most regular riders seem to agree. you feel safe on it? you don't fee

. >> there will be detours and wmata bus route changes. we have all the links to navigate the closures on our wusa9 news app. >>> after rising over a month gas prices have dropped nine days in a row. aaa predicts the downward trend to continue. the organization believes we could see average gas prices dip as low as two bucks a gallon nationwide perhaps this coming spring and summer thanks to an abundance of crude on the market. that could amount to 700 bucks worth of savings on gas for the typical household. right now the national average for a gallon of unleaded is $2.42, about what maryland drivers pay and in d.c. drivers are paying a bit more and virginia drivers are paying 16 cents a gallon less. >> wow. >> these prices are about $1.10 less than what we paid this time last year. >> that's music to my ears. can you believe that? >>> facebook is making it very clear what you can and cannot share with friend on the site. the social network updated its community standards on what's acceptable especially when it comes to hate or nudity. you

right now no plans, no official talks on this concept whether it be with mgm or national harbor or wmata or with region. it is a vision and a thought that the county executive has mentioned several times. >> an mgm official told wusa9 mgm national harbor support county executive baker's efforts to expand public transportation to prince george's county and national harbor. such expansion would benefit our guests, employees, and the entire community. >>> in tonight's health alert diet if pepsi is dropping the sweetener -- aspartame and replacing it with splenda. the companies blame the decline in sales on studies say is sapartame is not safe. --aspartame is not safe. >>> a report is finding cigar smoking just as unhealthy as cigarettes. cigar use has doubled since the year 2000 and different kinds of cancers and heart problems can happen after excessive use over time. >> a lot of people think if you're not inhaling the cigar, that's not as harmful, but this study has clearly shown that that is not a fact. >> cigar smoking is becoming especially popular among young people. the study found 1

that 2013 wmata reported electrical current arcs generating smoke about twice a month. our investigations found failures have increased to about three a month in 2014 and more this year, about five sparking and smoking insulators every month, more than double the failures since 2013. >> we are going to reverse it. >> reporter: as an expert, these are failures higher than you would have expected. >> again, these are trending the wrong way. >> reporter: george washington professor amahdi demonstrated difference of sparking on clean metal and contaminated, fires increasing on metro each year with no plan to change insulator maintenance. metro officials say reported sparking incidents are not always founded and that the agency had a plan in place and is working on that plan to step up replacements. wmata emphasized overall smoke and fire incidents have been trending down, overall, not on insulators, going down the past four years. >> even though metro is insisting they're trying to make things better, even with the increase in failures no plan to change the replacement rate

. >> the wusa9 investigators team found wmata replaced 900 insulators per month in 2012, but since then the pace has dropped to less than half of those replacements. russ found metro data indicating reports of smoking or burninginess laters have more than doubled -- burning insulators have more than doubled during that time period. >>> maryland's regulators say it's okay for pepco to merge with exelon, a much larger utility based in chicago. critics call this nopoly. >> reporter: some conditions were placed on the huge deal that would bring rate pairs about a 50 a -- rate payers about a $50 refund and help some low income families, but that won't assuage critics who call it a bad deal. >> it's a well regulated monopoly or do we want competition? >> reporter: the merger would make exelon one of the biggest utilities in the country. >> there are two issues that will arise. one is they have market power. they're so big they can influence the price by withholding supply. >> reporter: that's a worry for the general public, concern about the cost of power. >> i tend to think that bigger is no

so the ntsb asked wmata to fix the problem as soon as possible today. >>> a problem with some jeeps is causing the brakes to come on all by themselves. >> plus a formidable foe squares off against spotify and pandora for streaming sumpremacy all ahead in tonight's consumer alert. >> we'll look at what world le ♪ building aircraft, the likes of which the world has never seen. this is what we do. ♪ that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> the g-7 summit is all wrapped up in germany. president obama and the other leaders decided to keep in place sanctions against russia over the fight in ukraine. they called upon greece to adopt tough economic reforms for its debt crisis and want to wane world economies off fossil fuels by the end of the century. president obama said the u.s. is ready to help in the fight against isis. >> we want to get more iraqi security forces trained, fresh, well equipped and focused. >> president obama said part of the problem in iraq is there are not enough iraqis to fill the training classes the americans are willing to hold. >>> in tonight also c

his parents are seeking $24 million claiming wmata did not respond in a timely matter. >>> right now the search for two escaped prisoners in upstate new york is focused on a small town after a report of a possible sighting of the men, the latest from dannemora, new york. >> reporter: dozens of officers headed into the woods on foot in upstate new york searching for two escaped inmates, convicted killers david sweat and richard matt. they have been missing since saturday. >> they could still be here in the area if their get-away car didn't show up. >> reporter: there's heavy police presence outside the village of essex 40 miles from the prison. authorities said two suspicious people were in the area but would not give more details. over the weekend the inmates used power tools to cut their way out of the clinton correctional facility and investigators wouldn't to know how they got them. prison employee joyce mitchell is among those questioned. about 5,000 people live in the town of dannemora which was built around the prison. over a century it's been the main employer in the area. ric

wmata officials tell us these two stations use the same offsite chiller system and doctor -- and there was a leak in the line. once they find it they'll fix it, but that leak is why so many people were wiping sweat from the back of their necks. ed if heat wasn't enough to annoy riders, people at dupont had an elevator outage. >> there's nothing that surprises me here if something is broken. >> reporter: wmata can't tell us when the problem will be fixed. until they find the leak, they don't have a time table for when it will get cooler in the farragut or dupont metro station. ellison barber, wusa9. >> what a bad day for the chiller system to break down. that system normally keeps the station about 20 degrees cooler than the outside temperature. >>> we are keeping a close eye on the severe storm moving through our area now, topper tracking what those storms are dropping and where they're headed. you're watching wusa9 and your only local >>> we are taking a live look outside by reagan national airport. you can hardly see anything out there, tracking severe weather. i want to update you o

wmata has been under interim leadership. [indiscernible] >> this is not all that complicated. i have been somewhat critical. it's taken way too long. it's been ten months now. it's time for the board to get their act together. it's time for them to pick a new leader. let's get a dynamic leader. >> we've now got a job description that widens the pool so we hope to applicants. we're going to be putting the feet to the fire to hire someone as quickly as possible. >> reporter: wmata's board of directors hoods at this week and they expanded the qualifications they're looking for they'll look at people with a financial industry background and people that didn't work in the transit industry before. mayor bowser -- [ inaudible ] >> if only the lack of a general manager were the only problem. metro does say they expect to select itself new general manager by sometime this fall. >>> we are gist getting started -- just getting started on wusa9 news at 5:00. transportation troubles at the taylor swift concert. coming up at 5:30, peggy fox explains what went wrong last night and what if an

a recent federal report found fatings in wmata's safety -- fault in wmata's safety measures. the agency hasn't had a general manager since the tragedy in january. >> the metro is so important to us. about 35% of the folks who come into the district every day come in on metro. i'm making sure we have the safest system running. it's of critical importance importance to all of us -- importance to all of us. we need to move forward to get a general manager in there as quickly as possible. the three of us have agreed we will all work together to identify the best person. >> wmata's board of directors met last weekend and expanded the types of applicants they are considering. the search could now include people outside the transit industry. >>> in prince george's county today, the police department took some time to honor officers who went above and beyond the call of duty. police chief mark mcgall led annual award ceremony recognizing several officers, including those who had helped with police efforts in baltimore following the death of freddie gray and officers who administered

. >> there's already been conversations obviously with wmata to make sure that we continue to make this parking garage safe because as we are embarking in this project we've invested $144 million, there will have to be stop reorganizing in terms of parking -- some reorganizing in terms of parking and we want to make sure everybody understands wheaton is safe. >> reporter: officers made an arrest on scene. 19-year-old douglas chase of d.c. and 18-year-old brent sanderson are charged in this murder. we know from police they believe the 19-year-old suspect is the shooter. we also just learned from charging documents that police recovered a gun in one of the suspect's book bags and they also found five shell casings on the scene. in wheaton stephanie ramirez, wusa9. >> thank you, stephanie. we should note both suspects are now being held without bond. they've got a court hearing scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. >>> a woman changing a flat tire is killed on the suitland parkway and tonight police say the driver who struck her was drunk. it happened last night on the suitland parkway at stan

will wmata make -- wmata makes changes to a bus route. we're talking about the w8 line. it loops around good hope, alabama and stanton road but for the next week, the w8 will skip nightly stops after 7:00 p.m. on elvins road in the shepherd park neighborhood. metro says the move comes after several security incidents, the most serious happening friday night around 10:30 when a bus was driving through that dead end road. it was shot at. a passenger was injured, ran off the bus and we're told the passenger is recovering right now. police are stepping up patrols. the union tweeted out that a bus was actually hijacked in the area and the union is calling for officers to ride on those buses to keep their drivers and the passengers safe. we'll have much more on what the union has to say and we just talked to a rider just a short time ago. we'll have his interview coming up at 6:30. we're live in anacostia, delia goncalves, wusa9. >>> we could see you in guidelines today in maryland to prevent police profiling during traffic stops. the state's attorney plans a press conference

the tax dollars are funding wmata breaking down right now go to twit ear and use the hashtag wmata. to get the latest condition, download the wusa 9 app. we have a list of different ways you can get around without metro and wake-up washington a.m. >>> turning to other news. a prince george's county court missioner threw out a second degree charge against two officers in the death of police officer jakai coal son. but the state attorney may take the case to the grand jury. elijah and malik porter are scheduled for a court hearing tomorrow. they are accused of shooting a video of a shooting. the officer was caught in the cross fire and was killed by cross fire. >>> the polls are beginning to close in the five states casting votes. the battlegrounds, of course, are ohio and florida. garrett is live with the donald trump team. >> with millions of absentees and millions of should not take long for officials in florida to get the votes counted and declared a winner. the battle for the state has been between donald trump winning from the panhandle to the north all the way tout to the tampa

according to court documents, the agency accuses the department of ignoring wmata's efforts to relay critical information. toe they say the failure to communicate resulted in delayed help. >> you're talking about -- you're talking about having fire be responsible the someg that should be metro. >> reporter: a spokesperson has not commented on the allegations yet. but says it's reviewing the claims. the deadly incident triggered improvements to the rail system and federal oversight to get them done. according to a report, contracts for communication upgrades for radio and cell phones have been awarded. more training for workers and maintenance is underway. reporting from southwest, mikea turner, wusa9. >> the washington metropolitan area transit authority is also arguing immunity from the lawsuits, because of the way it was created which was by an agreement between congress, the district, maryland, and virginia. >>> well, we've been talking about how the incoming administration will affect the country. next, we take a look at how trump's distinct taste in decor could ailfect the funni

wmatas says there have been no operational changes. neighbors say they aren't only running out of patience. they're running out of time. >> i am worried about this because, you know, the value of the house, you got to maintain and if the structure is crumbling, what do you think? >> reporter: in hyattsville pete muntean, wusa9. you can catch part one of our investigation on the front page of www.wusa9.com. you can also see it on our wusa9 app. >>> chesapeake bay is a national treasure, but a bay clean-up project might face a budget cut of 93%. the trump administration has proposed slashing fund for the chesapeake bay program from $73 million down to 5 million. that program works with the feds, d.c. and surrounding states to limit and monitor bay pollution. advocates say a drastic cut in funding could unravel years of progress. >>> it might not be such a nice day to be out on the water tomorrow. >> topper, in fact, is talking about snow in some places? is that right? >> some of us will see flakes on the way to work, on the way to lunch

wmata issued a rare apology for this. it is blaming rain overnight. there was .1-inch, not wmata said it's the speed in which it came down. >>> it was a day for rallies here in d.c. first two groups with different views held rallies in front of the lincoln memorial. first we start at the bottom of the lincoln memorial, a right wing conservative group held a rally there. their headline speaker was white nationalist richard spencer. >> the notion that he was this great emancipator is a bit of a myth. >> i understand it looks like a nazi outfit, but i mean you can say a lot about the nazis, but they look pretty good. >> they organized it all in the name of free speech. and at the top of that memorial rally was a response to that alt right group. they said that some free speech that instills hate and violence should not be tolerated. >> i am terrified that we are now on >>> it doesn't look like it's reversible. >> police presence there was heavy and except for one minor skirmish between the two groups they both ended peacefully and with no arrests. there

. >> a wmata spokesman tells me lawmakers should pick this up since this is something the agency and the union can agree on. the largest union of metro workers refused to comment tonight citing it is a holiday week craziness has gone on far too long, bikers and atv riders pulling stunts that are dangerous and illegal. starting this weekend police will try something to stop these riders in their tracks. it's a strip they will place in the road that punctures and slowly deflates the tires. police say they will use it only when they determine it is safe. >>> the start of high school football season is drawing some cheers and some controversy at one local school. it's trying to shut down a student tradition that many find offensive. john henry went to tonight's big game at linganore high school in frederick, maryland. >> reporter: high school football is back here at linganore high school in frederick county but not without a little bit of controversy this season. under the friday night lights at linganore high school, the students of the tribe cheer on the home team every minute of play

. >> reporter: wmata says it's called for new visual checks of the problem cars. it stresses this is under the railcar and not accessible to passengers. metro insists this has not happened before. workers fear next time the result could be deadly. >> it's not could be. it will be real dangerous because if these underground brushes aren't in place, getting shocked is the least of your worries. >> reporter: the union president tells me metro agreed to this safety standdown. by the way, the worker who was shocked here on sunday is back at work here again today. live in ll muntean, wusa9. >>> let's get to breaking news out of annapolis, sky9 over the scene as police investigate double shooting on madison street not too far from the community center there. they do not have a suspect at this point in custody. >>> in arlington county police need your help to find a man who groped a woman on the mount vernon trail a week ago, wednesday, september 13th, lunchtime near rosslyn. the woman was jogging near lynn street at lee highway when the man just came up and touched her.

. >>> jake wmata he was known as the fwrongs bull during his fighting days and he went on to become the middleweight champion. robert de niro went on to win on ascorbate for playing him in "the raging bull." hed complications from pneumonia. he was 95. >>> coming up on "cbs this morning," joining us in studio vice president mike pence. this is the "cbs morning news." but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or devel